Weddingbee bios

Hello there!  We're The YesAnds.  Pleased to meet you. 

Who are The YesAnds?  You mean you don't know?  Oh, well I'll just tell you a bit about us.

This is Mr. YesAnd:

He's a 39 year old native of Manchester, UK.  He is an entrepreneur, auctioneer, and comedian.  He works hard and plays goofy.   He laughs at his own jokes and would have olives and capers in every meal if it were up to him. 

This is Miss YesAnd:

I'm a 31 year old native of Texas.  When I met Mr. YesAnd I lived in Dallas and worked as a Depression Researcher.  I am also an improvisational comedian.  I love hanging out with friends and family and putting a smile on people's faces. 

 

It was the summer of 2008.  I was excited to attend my first World Comedy League Championship.  It was to be a week of workshops, shows and non-stop improvisational comedy with players from ComedySportz teams from all over the world. 

I was nervous.  I'd never really traveled by myself before and am shy when meeting new people.  There were a few players from my Dallas team that I was meeting there, but I didn't know what to expect from the week.

I ended up having a great time.  I learned a bunch and met a ton of great people.  I'd even met a guy for a little holiday romance.  He was a nice enough guy.  In a very un-me move I made out with him for a few nights.... this guy wasn't Mr. YesAnd... we'll call him John Quixote.

The night before I was leaving I went to the nightly party.  I already knew that I didn't want to pursue things with John Quixote.  He wasn't really my type and I was over it.  So that night I was goofing around in the alley way of the party with some friends.  Some of them were from my team, but most were from the Manchester UK team.  At some point, Mr. YesAnd came out to join the group.  We'd met earlier in the week, neither taking much notice of the other.  That night it was a different story.  We had an instant chemistry.  We soon seperated ourselves from the group and started talking.  We were talking and then all of a sudden Mr. YesAnd leaned in a kissed me.  In the alley!  In front of all the people!  I was so embarrassed.  I suggested a walk.  We ended up walking all around downtown Portland.  We walked and talked and talked and walked.  I was so nervous about kissing him again! 

Eventually we turned into an alley and.... ohhhh the kissing!

We stayed up most of the night talking and kissing and talking.  In the morning it was almost time for me to leave so we went to a nearby Starbucks for our first date.  Mr. YesAnd asked me to come back to England with him.  I smiled and laughed, assuming I'd never see him again. 

When my ride to the airport came to get me, he handed me a business card and kissed me goodbye.  Little did I know he'd managed to steal my cell phone number...

This is the first picture of us together.  It was a workshop that we didn't even realize we'd both been in until much later...  Mr. YesAnd is in the center with a camera and I am on the far right in an orange tank top.  Can you feel the passion between us? :)

 

Mr. YesAnd and I met doing improv comedy, so it was fitting that his proposal was so full of improvisation.  A mere 5 months after we'd met, on his 3rd visit to Dallas to see me, Mr. YesAnd popped the question.  I'd just performed in my comedy troupe's New Year's Eve show at Dave & Buster's in Frisco, Texas.  The whole room joined in the countdown, a balloon drop, and a champagne toast.  As the audience filed out of the room, Mr. YesAnd pulled me into the backstage area for a little kiss.  I'd noticed that he was acting strange that evening, but figured he was just in a bad mood or tired.  I was sweaty from the show and wearing yoga pants, a t-shirt and a big stupid blue bow in my hair.  Mr. YesAnd looked at me and said "I made you some Blind Lines".  Blind Line is an improv game where the audience gives suggestions of lines of dialogue (song lyrics, movie lines, advice your mom gave you, etc.).   The lines are sprinkled around the stage and then the players perform a scene, periodically picking up a line, reading it, and incorporating and justifying it into the scene.  I thought to myself, "Huh, that's wierd..." and started to read.  The slips had little sweet sayings and inside jokes.  The last one said "Will you marry me?"  My jaw dropped and I exclaimed "Are you serious?!!?"

While I sputtered and stuttered, Mr. YesAnd made many valid points about our relationship.  Such as, "I know it's soon and there are lots of other questions to answer, but if the answer to this isn't yes, then what are we doing?"  You see, I'd known we would get married, but had thought we'd wait to get engaged until we'd known each other about a year.  But as he spoke I realized he was right.  And so eventually, after he'd experienced an unfair amount of anxiety I said the only thing I could... "Of course, yes!"

Because we were backstage, many of my fellow players walked in during the aftermath of the proposal, unbeknownst the them.  They thought they were just interrupting a New Year's smooch.  It wasn't until later that they found out that I'd just said the biggest "YES!" of my life.

...is what Mr. YesAnd called the day we took our Engagement Pictures.  We had a blast with our amazingly fun and talented photographer Shari Hunt.   We went to the Dallas Arboretum, a popular spot for pictures in Dallas.  Can you believe I'd lived in Dallas for 20 years and never been before that day?!  We knew there would be gorgeous floral backgrounds and there were also playhouses inspired by children's stories dotting the park. 

Shari did a great job of capturing us in our natural state.  She helped us relax and really enjoy the process.  We knew we'd made the right choice with Shari by the end of the day!

Here are some of our fav pics

 

 

I was lucky enough to have 3 fabulous friends stand with me on my wedding day.  They kept me laughing, crying, and surrounded by love. 

Here are the classy ladies:

MOH M is an amazing friend from college.  She is one of those girls that I might never have become friends with had we not joined the same sorority.  She is sweet, goofy, smart, and awesome.  She did silly dances while I was having my hair done to keep me from crying as the big moment drew near.

BM N is one of the most warm-hearted people I have ever known.  We weren't always the close friends that we are now.  She and I met when she married my dear friend since 8th grade, I.  We weren't quite sure what to make of each other.  In fact, according to her I threatened her at their wedding... something along the lines of "be good to him or I'll hurt you".  :)  When their family relocated to Dallas, she and I figured each other out and became bosom buddies.  She is genuine, loyal, funny, and supportive.

BM C and I met at work.  We got to know each other slowly and eventually bonded over a shared work-ethic, sense of humor, and the drama of an awful co-worker.  Over many lunch hours we grew close.  We talked about so many topics and developed a respect and fondness.  We even ended up leaving the office within a week of each other- she to be a stay-at-home mom to her first child and me to marry Mr. YesAnd and move to the UK.  She is steadfast, funny, smart, and lovely.

I will always be grateful to these women for the love and support they have shown me, and will continue to show our family over the years.

Mr. YesAnd had a cadre of kooky fellas keeping him company on our wedding day.

Here are the goofy guys:

BM T was actually there when we first hit it off.  He was even an unwitting 3rd wheel on our "first date" as Mr. YesAnd waited with me for my ride to the airport to arrive.  They bonded over a shared sense of comedy and are a hoot together.  T even kicked off his own love story at our wedding, meeting Mr. YesAnd's cousin.  They each traveled all the way to Dallas and found that they lived less than an hour apart.  They're moving in together next month.

GM J is Mr. YesAnd's uncle.  They have become very close since the death of Mr. YesAnd's sister, mother, and father.  J is the closest family that Mr. YesAnd has left and a great guy.  I've never known two men who could talk such utter nonsense to each other and enjoy every second of it.

Mr. YesAnd's final GM was my big brother M.  They have a ton in common and are figuring out how to be brother-in-laws.  M is still unsure of when to take Mr. YesAnd seriously, but will figure it out eventually! :)

 

This is everyone related to us that was able to come to our wedding.  We were so fortunate to have so many loved ones there with us to celebrate our special day.  All but 4 of them are my relatives, some of whom I hadn't seen in 10 years.  Mr. YesAnd had little family there.  His immediate family is all deceased and the travel from England proved prohibitive for most others.  This made family pictures bittersweet for him as he gained new family, but missed his mom, dad, and sister.

 My mom's mother (G'ma as I call her) is one of my favorite people in the world. 

Mr. YesAnd was so happy to have she and my fabulous Papa as his grandparents too.

My mom helped make the wedding day as stress-free as possible.  She was the perfect hostess and is one of my best friends. 

My dad is a soft-spoken engineer.  He's been especially quiet on the whole "His-Baby-Is-Getting-Married-And-Moving-To-England" front.  We have a very special relationship.  He tried hard not to make eye contact with me to keep from crying.  Something about a grown man tearing up gets me every time!

My beautiful cousins J and E served as my House Party and were a great help.  I loved completing the granddaughter wedding trifecta with them.  I was a BM at J's wedding and House Party for E's.  G'ma is so happy to see all her girls happily paired!

Mr. YesAnd's cousin D (who found a love match with BM T) shared a special moment with me pre-ceremony.  She started out saying "I don't want to make you cry, but..." and told me how much Mr. YesAnd's parents and sister would have loved me and how happy they would have been.  Needless to say- I did cry!

Some of my favorite pics from our wedding are of our ringbearers L and T, 5 and 2.  They are the sons of BM N and soloist I.  They call me Aunt YesAnd and it melts my heart.  After getting to know them, Mr. YesAnd fell just as much in love with these boys as I already was- and boy do they love him back! 

L was the perfect ring bearer and took the whole process seriously.  We weren't sure if T would make it, having just turned 2.  T was playing with an Etch-A-Sketch before the ceremony and as time drew nearer he was still clutching it.  As time drew near and we were waiting to walk down the aisle, someone (I don't remember who now) asked me if he was going to carry it with him.  I immediately said "Yes!" and his mom said it was better than causing a meltdown by trying to take it away.  Mr. YesAnd said that the moment he realized that it was an Etch-A-Sketch that T was grasping as he toddled down the aisle was one of his favs of the day.

Here's some more cuteness:

L shows me his "Rock Star" vest as I get my hair done.  It had a guitar silkscreened on the inner lining.

L takes a running leap to hug his beloved mom.

T gets suited up for the big day.

L checks himself in the mirror. Such a little man...

It was so important to me to include I in our wedding celebration.  He is my oldest friend and a true pal.  He has a beautiful singing voice, but hasn't sung publicly much since college so I gave him the option to do a reading or sing a solo during the ceremony.  He eagerly dove into finding a song.  We eventually settled on the love song "Dodi Li" as a nod to Ross' Jewish heritage.  I sang it beautifully!

Here's us with the whole family.  We love them all!

I absolutely adored my dress.  My amazing consultant at Lulu's Boutique picked it out for me and it was the first dress I tried on.  The embroidery and beading was gorgeous.

I felt glamorous, beautiful and bridal!

 

In terms of BM dresses, the most important thing to me was that each of my 3 girls felt and looked beautiful.  I also wanted them to have something that they could concievably wear in the future.  I knew our wedding was going to be quite formal and decided that black was the best option for the dresses. 

Initially, I was hoping that Mr.YesAnd's niece would be able to make the trip over for the wedding and act as a BM.  I determined that it would be far too complicated to get the same dress sorted for her in Manchester and my 3 Dallas BMs.  The decision was made that each girl would choose whatever "Black, Formal, Floor-length" dress they liked.  Sadly, Mr. YesAnd's niece wasn't able to make the trip, but I was very happy with how well the 3 dresses looked.  They all looked like they went together even though they didn't match.

MOH M was over the moon with the dress decision.  She had just been in a wedding where the bride had purchased all 8 of her BMs gorgeous strapless Watters & Watters gowns and was thrilled that she'd be able to wear it again so soon! It has a beautiful twist detail at the back and a little sweep train that complimented my train wonderfully.

BMs C & N  both knew what my dress looked like and what MOH M's dress looked like, so I knew I could trust them to find something that would work perfectly.  BM N tortured herself trying on dozens of black dresses and didn't find anything for ages.  She is decidedly not a fancy dress kind of lady, but was determined to find something that I would love.  Eventually she went to Alfred Angelo and looked at the seperates there.  It was sucessful!  She found a flattering and reasonably-priced option that looked fab.  She and BM C went back to AA together and found a great dress for new mom C too!  They looked so beautiful.  I loved that not-matching feel of their overall look..

 

 

Shortly after we got engaged, I was toying with color schemes for our January wedding.  I thought I could do pale blue with white and silver.  I thought of several different color schemes that I don't remember anymore. 

Then Mr. YesAnd made a matter of fact proclamation that he would be wearing yellow socks on our big day.  Mr. YesAnd has a thing for socks.  No, seriously, he has an entire dresser filled with socks (like 200 pairs).  He says if we were really wealthy, his major extravagance would be to have a new pair of socks every day.  Bright colors, crazy patterns, he's got 'em all!

So I knew he meant business and chose a color scheme that incorporated yellow and everything else just fell into place.

He purchased his own dinner suit (what they call a tux in England) and started searching for a bowtie.  He looked and looked all over.  I showed him suggestions.  He wasn't excited about any of them.

He arrived in the States for our wedding with no bowtie in hand.  This made me slightly anxious.  We had an extra groomsman bowtie, but he had a specific vision for what he wanted and wasn't able to find it.

We really wanted a self-tie bowtie and he was having trouble finding one that wasn't plain black.  We searched all over Dallas for something just right.  We went to the mall and were about to give up.  We were on our way out of Macy's back to the car.  We rode down the escalator and there it was!  A beautiful gold self-tie bowtie with a diagonal pattern in the weave of the fabric.  We snatched it off the mannequin as the escalator took us past the display!

Isn't he cute?!

Why were we so set on a self-tie bowtie?  Well mostly so we could have pics of it like this at the end of the night :)

Two of our 3 groomsmen already owned tuxes (or dinner suits as they call them in England).  My brother, the 3rd one, had been talking about getting one for ages so he gladly bought one for our wedding.  We knew that they might not match exactly, but figured it would be look fine since our BMs were wearing whatever black dress they liked. 

We gifted them their bowties (gold and black, found by Mr. YesAnd) and told them to wear standard white tux shirts.  Easy peasy, lemony squeezy. 

Our adorable ring bearers wore white dress shirts, black dress pants, black vests, and bowties that matched the groomsmen.  I spoke to their mom, BM N, and said that she should just look and find them matching outfits with black vests and it was all sorted.  She even found them barely worn fancy patent leather shoes at Once Upon a Child, a second hand shop in Dallas, for next to nothing!

My lovely mom found her dress as a shop in Houston, where my parent live, that specializes in Mother of the Bride dresses.  T. Carolyn Fashions was a great experience for her.  They helped her find the perfect dress and offered lots of helpful guidance and expertise.  I know she looked and felt beautiful for the big day!  Here's my big brother, GM M, escorting her down the aisle.

I knew I wanted to wear my hair up for our wedding.  I always feel more special when it's up and I always mess with my hair when it's down.  At my hair trial, Erin Gobin told me about Euronext Clip in Extensions.  They are made with human hair and so can be styled normally.  She said that they could add fullness to my look for the wedding day and told me I could buy them at Sally Beauty Supply.

I was so pleased with how my hair turned out.  It was soft and pretty and looked great in pictures.

Here are the extensions going in, getting styled, and the finished product as seen from behind.

While I love the soft, dewy, "Bridal" make up look- I knew it wasn't for me.  I mean, my wedding day was a perfect chance to look all out glam and fabulous.  My hair/MUA Erin Gobin or Haute Facade was so great to work with.  She did hair and make up for myself, my 3 BMs and my mom.  It was so great to have her onsite at the church with all her gear and lighting instead of having to go different places that morning.

At my hair/MU trail, she was so excited that I wanted something bold and glamorous.  She said lately all her brides have wanted the pretty "Bridal" look and she was bored with it.  She was jazzed to do something a little more va-va-voomy :)  We went with a bronzy dramatic eye and she even put on super-awesome fake eyelashes for me.

One last sip of water through a straw so as not to mess up the lipstick!

 

On the left is my blingy headpiece.  I refuse to call it a tiara.  It is a jewel-encrusted headpiece, I say! :)  It was new for the wedding.

On the right is my something old.  It is a gold bangle bracelet that belonged to my great-grandmother.  It had been given to my mom, who passed it on to me for the wedding.  She said she thought it was fitting as my great-grandmother had immigrated from northern England as a young girl that I wear it down the aisle and have it as I moved to England to start my married life.  I love that it is a bit battered and dinged up.  It makes it that much more special to me. Here's another pic of the bangle with my bouquet where you can see it's age.

In the front of the first pic are my something borrowed.  They are pearl earrings that my mom wears frequently.  I have fond memories of her wearing them for events when I was a young girl.  I was so glad to borrow them for the wedding.

For the reception, I decided to add some extra bling.  Since I took of my cathedral length veil after the ceremony, I thought I could do with a little ear-candy.  I bought these earrings at Sam Moon- a fabulous low-cost jewelry and purse store in Dallas.

 

We originally planned to get matching wedding bands.  My e-ring is palladium, so we new my band would be also.  Mr. YesAnd tried on a few wedding bands at a jewelry store to get a feel.  He ended up liking tungsten bands the best. 

We found his band on Amazon for a bargain price! 

I found a simple band that looked great with my uniquely set solitaire e-ring on eBay for far less than it would have been in a jewelry store. 

All in all, I'd say our rings were some of our least expensive wedding purchases!

This is one of our fav pics from the wedding.  Our photographer borrowed our wedding rings during the reception and did this adorable set up using our favors.  We like to call ourselves King and Queen of Ducks :)

It was very important to me to have shoes that wouldn't be killing me by the end of the night.  I probably ordered 8 pairs of shoes from Zappos before settling on these pretty 2.5 inch Ivory Beaded Nina heels.  They looked great with my dress.

Here they are pictured with my headpiece.

I wanted to incorporate Mr. YesAnd's British-ness by putting a six pence in my shoe, but as you can see this shoe is totally open.  How did I solve the problem?  Well I superglued the coin to the bottom of my shoe.  Now it makes the shoes into a great keepsake!

My BMs helped me put them on once I had the dress zipped up.

 

Towards the end of our reception, I swapped my heels for some comfy ivory Isotoner slippers that my mom had gifted me for Christmas.  Mr. YesAnd took the opportunity to use my shoes as dance props.  Wierdo! When we saw these pics, he claimed to have no memory of his actions. 

 

I loved my veil!  It was so delicate and bridal.  I had originally picked a similar one that had more intricate beading on the edges.  It was narrow and on a smaller comb, but the consultant said they could make it wider for me.  I got a call a bit later saying that it couldn't be done so I went in and found this fab veil with simple beaded edge.

Of course I had to be silly and pretend to be a ghost...

I loved my bouquet.  It was black magic roses and red hypericum berries and a salal leaf collar.  It looked so rich and beautiful against the ivory of my dress.  Red roses are also meaningful, with the "Red Rose of Lancashire" being symbolic of Mr. YesAnd's hometown.

The BMs carried smaller bouquet that combined red roses, orange magic roses, verigated freesia and green hypericum berries.  I really loved how the bold colors popped against the black of their dresses.

The grandmothers and my mom carried smaller nosegays containing the same flowers as the BMs.  Here are my 2 grandmothers.

Our reception venue had a great intimate feel and 2 floors.  I knew we didn't need big fancy centerpieces and wanted to keep things simple.  There were multiple sizes and types (banquet seatting, round booths, 2 seaters, 8 seaters) of tables, so I went with 2 sizes for centerpieces, featuring the same flowers as the bouquets.  When the florist (Le Fleur Couture, formerly A Magic Moment) dropped off bouquet and bouts at the church I showed her a floorplan showing where the small and large arrangements should be placed.

I worked with Tami the owner to determine that it was a better deal to purchase the vases from her, allowing people to take them home at the end of the night.  Costwise, we broke even because we didn't have to pay for someone to come back and pick anything up after the reception was over.  I'd meant to mark seating cards of a person at each table asking them to take the arrangement from their table home, but forgot.  Luckily my mom was on the ball and started asking people to take arrangements home as she saw them start to leave.

Mr. YesAnd and I were so excited to have these little duck keychains as our favors.  When Mr. YesAnd was about to leave me in Dallas to head back to England after we'd gotten engaged, he happened upon these little cuties.  He proclaimed that you couldn't be unhappy if you had one of them.  Afterall, they quack AND light up!  So we each got one to keep us happy through our long distance separation.

I was so worried that people wouldn't take them or that they would think they were silly favors, but at the end of the night there wasn't one left!  I was so pleased. 

Mr. YesAnd even worked the ducks into his amazing groom's speech (a British tradition).  He spoke for about 20 minutes and had the room in the palm of his hand.  He was funny, tender, and heart-felt.  He concluded his speech with a unique salute to me, instead of the traditional toast.  He asked the room to quack their ducks in my honor!